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Connected Systems Were the Real Story at NCSA

sschuller — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 01:01:22 +0000

Connected Systems Were the Real Story at NCSA

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sschuller Wed, 07/29/2026 - 18:01

Connected Systems Were the Real Story at This Year's NCSA Conference

July 29 2026

Author

Greg Rabchuk

Sharla Schuller

When people think about industry conferences, they often picture product demonstrations, networking, and keynote presentations. Those are certainly part of the experience, but they're not the primary reason we attend events like the National Conference on Student Assessment (NCSA).

We attend to listen.

The conversations happening between state education agencies, assessment leaders, publishers, researchers, and technology providers often reveal where education is headed long before those changes become formal requirements. This year's conference made it clear the future isn't about adding more tools, but about building connected systems that help educators make better decisions and improve student outcomes.

That message was reflected in the conference theme itself, Connecting the Dots: Building Coherent Systems to Support Student Success. Across sessions, speakers emphasized the importance of bringing together standards, assessments, instructional resources, reporting, and data into a more connected experience rather than managing each as separate initiatives.

We see the same shift happening in conversations with our clients.

Whether you are a publisher preparing instructional materials, an EdTech provider integrating multiple data sources, or a state agency managing evolving standards, success increasingly depends on how well information flows across systems. Organizations are looking beyond individual features and asking bigger questions:

Can our systems adapt as standards change?
Can we connect assessment results to instructional resources?
Can we deliver consistent, trusted data across every stage of the content lifecycle?

Those questions point to a larger trend. Technology alone is no longer enough. The organizations that will be best positioned for the future are those investing in infrastructure that supports flexibility, interoperability, and long-term scalability.

Artificial intelligence was another highly visible topic throughout the conference, appearing in nearly 15 of the approximately 85 sessions. What stood out, however, wasn't AI itself. The discussion focused on how AI can strengthen existing systems through more continuous assessment, better insights, and more efficient workflows, rather than replacing the people and processes already in place.

The conference also reinforced the important role states continue to play in shaping the future of education. With representatives from more than 37 state education agencies in attendance, many discussions centered on balancing accountability with increased flexibility while continuing to improve outcomes for students.

For us, conferences like NCSA are not simply opportunities to observe trends, but an opportunity to better understand the challenges our clients will be navigating over the next several years. Those conversations help shape how we think about standards management, alignment, reporting, and the connected infrastructure needed to support them.

Education is becoming more interconnected every year.

Standards influence assessments, assessment data informs instruction, and reporting drives accountability. None of those pieces exist in isolation anymore, and neither should the systems that support them.

If your organization is thinking about how to better connect standards, content, assessments, and reporting, we welcome the opportunity to continue the conversation. These are the kinds of challenges we work through every day, and we would be happy to share what we are seeing across the education community and explore how connected systems can help support your goals.

EdGate's Approach to AI

sschuller — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:59:51 +0000

EdGate's Approach to AI

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sschuller Wed, 07/29/2026 - 17:59

EdGate's Approach to AI: Practical, Transparent, and Human-Guided

July 29 2026

Author

Sharla Schuller

Artificial intelligence is reshaping education technology, and at EdGate, we are excited about the opportunities it creates. But we have taken a different approach than simply adding AI to an existing platform.

Instead of relying on a single off-the-shelf model, we have built an AI strategy specifically for the complexities of educational standards.

Standards alignment requires understanding relationships between concepts, preserving the structure and hierarchy of standards, and maintaining accuracy across thousands of frameworks that are constantly evolving. That's why our AI is built to work within the ExACT Standards Alignment Platform, alongside the technology and expertise we have developed nearly 30 years.

Built for Standards, Not General Conversation

At the heart of ExACT is a proprietary, education-focused large language model that we are developing specifically for standards work. Working alongside carefully selected AI technologies, it helps identify meaningful relationships between standards, recommend alignments, support crosswalks between frameworks, and even compare standards across different languages.

Rather than relying on keyword matching alone, ExACT uses semantic processing to recognize when standards express the same learning objective in different ways. This allows organizations to build more consistent alignments across states, national frameworks, international standards, and career pathways while significantly reducing manual effort.

AI Supported by Decades of Standards Expertise

Technology is only part of the equation.

ExACT combines AI with EdGate's proprietary taxonomy, the world's largest, most comprehensive and continuously maintained standards repository, and the expertise of former educators, subject matter experts, and data specialists.

AI can rapidly analyze large collections of content and recommend alignments, but experienced professionals remain essential for validating results, refining workflows, and ensuring the quality our customers expect. We see AI as a way to accelerate expertise, not replace it.

Protecting What Matters Most

As organizations explore AI, one question continues to surface:

What happens to our content and data?

That's why security has been central to our approach from the beginning.

While ExACT leverages multiple vetted AI models for advanced processing, customer information is brought back into EdGate's proprietary environment rather than being exposed through public AI services. Your content, alignments, and intellectual property remain private, and each customer works within a personalized environment designed around their data.

Our goal is to give organizations the advantages of AI without compromising ownership, privacy, or trust.

AI That Solves Real Problems

For us, AI isn't about adding another feature. It's about making standards management more effective.

Across ExACT, AI helps organizations:

Generate intelligent alignment recommendations that reduce manual effort.
Compare standards across states, countries, and frameworks using semantic understanding instead of simple keyword matching.
Maintain existing alignments through crosswalking as standards evolve.
Identify gaps in standards coverage and evaluate alignment strength through advanced reporting.
Accelerate workflows while keeping experts in control of every final decision.

As education continues to evolve, so will our use of AI. We'll continue investing in technology that helps organizations work more efficiently while preserving the accuracy, transparency, and trust that have always been at the center of everything we do.

Because at EdGate, AI isn't the destination. It's one more way we are helping organizations build smarter, more scalable systems for managing standards with confidence.

The Experience Behind Educational Innovation

sschuller — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:58:42 +0000

The Experience Behind Educational Innovation

EdGate Services

Hot Topic

Teaching Trends

sschuller Wed, 07/29/2026 - 17:58

The Experience Behind Educational Innovation

July 29 2026

Author

Sharla Schuller

When a publisher releases new material or an EdTech company launches a new product, most folks will just see the finished result.

What they don't see is everything that had to happen before that resource was ready to support the classroom.

Educational standards don't simply become instructional materials. Before a product reaches the hands of the learner, standards must be interpreted, organized, licensed, mapped, reviewed, aligned, and maintained. Content teams work to ensure all instructional materials accurately reflect academic expectations, product teams build systems that can support those standards at scale, and standards specialists validate that the connections are meaningful and consistent.

It's a collaborative effort involving people with very different areas of expertise, all working toward the same goal of creating resources educators can trust.

Much of that work happens behind the scenes. When it's done well, no one notices. The product simply works.

Anyone who has spent time developing educational materials knows just how much knowledge and coordination it takes to get there.

The Experts Behind the Work

One of the things we are most proud of at EdGate is not just the technology we have built over nearly 30 years. It's the people who have helped shape it.

Our team includes former classroom teachers, curriculum specialists, instructional designers, education consultants, and standards experts. Together, they bring decades of firsthand experience developing curriculum, supporting state initiatives, interpreting standards, and helping publishers and EdTech companies create products that educators can trust.

Many have worked on both sides of the process, developing educational resources while also seeing how those resources are used in schools and districts. Others are experiencing today's education system from a different perspective as parents watching their own children learn, grow, and benefit from the work happening behind the scenes.

That perspective matters.

When our customers are trying to determine how a revised science standard affects existing curriculum or how to map one state's standards to another's, they are not simply looking for software. They are looking for people who understand the complexity of the work because they have done it themselves.

Experience Shapes Better Technology

Technology has transformed almost every part of education, and standards management is no exception.

Today, AI can help identify relationships between standards, reduce repetitive tasks, and make it easier to work with large collections of educational data. Those capabilities have real value, and we are excited about the opportunities they create.

But AI does not understand the instructional intent behind a standard. It does not know why a subtle wording change may have significant implications for a publisher's curriculum or an assessment provider's reporting framework. It does not bring years of experience working through state adoptions, curriculum revisions, or standards interpretation.

That is where people make the difference.

At EdGate, AI is not replacing educational expertise; it's being shaped by it.

The solutions we build are informed by nearly three decades of working alongside education organizations, and by a team that understands the realities of standards management from the classroom, the curriculum office, the publisher, and the technology provider's perspective.

We believe that is how AI should be used. It should help experienced professionals work more efficiently, make more informed decisions, and focus their expertise where it matters most.

The People Behind the Products

The next time you see new curriculum, an educational platform, or a reporting system that simply works, remember that it didn't begin with technology. It began with people.

People who understand educational standards beyond the words on the page. People who recognize the connections, ask the difficult questions, and think through the ripple effects of every revision and every decision.

Those are the professionals working quietly behind the scenes to ensure the products educators rely on are accurate, consistent, and built with confidence.

We are fortunate to work with those people every day.

EdGate has had the privilege of working alongside these professionals. We have learned from them, built technology with them, and watched the complexity of standards management continue to grow. If there is one thing we are certain of, it is that great educational products are not created by technology alone. They are created by experienced people using the right tools to solve incredibly complex problems.

The New Procurement Reality: Why Adoption Success Starts Before Selection

sschuller — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 13:49:09 +0000

The New Procurement Reality: Why Adoption Success Starts Before Selection

EdGate Services

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sschuller Wed, 07/22/2026 - 06:49

The New Procurement Reality: Why Adoption Success Starts Before Selection

July 22 2026

Author

Rich Portelance

For years, education procurement has centered on a familiar set of questions. Does the solution align to state standards? Does it address instructional goals? Is the content high quality? Does the pricing fit the budget?

Those questions still matter, but they are no longer enough.

Today's state agencies and school districts are making decisions in a much broader context. With increasing demands for accountability, interoperability, implementation support, and measurable outcomes, procurement teams are evaluating not just the product itself, but the organization's ability to successfully deliver on its promise over time.

In other words, adoption success now begins long before a contract is awarded.

Procurement Has Become a Risk Assessment

Every procurement decision represents a significant investment of time, money, and trust. Districts and state agencies are asking a different question than they did just a few years ago:

"Can this organization successfully support implementation at scale?"

That shift significantly changes how publishers, curriculum developers and EdTech providers operate.

These companies are now expected to demonstrate far more than product excellence. They must provide confidence that they can support educators, maintain standards alignment as requirements evolve, deliver transparent reporting, and adapt to future policy changes.

What we are seeing in the market is clear: the strongest products can still lose if procurement teams perceive unnecessary implementation risk.

The Rise of Procurement Confidence

Here is where expectations meet reality. Procurement confidence isn't created by marketing claims. It's built through operational maturity.

Organizations that consistently earn trust have invested in scalable systems that enable them to:

Maintain accurate and current standards alignments.
Respond quickly to changing state requirements.
Produce evidence that supports procurement decisions.
Demonstrate implementation readiness.
Scale support across multiple states and districts.

These capabilities reduce uncertainty for procurement teams and create confidence that adoption will lead to long-term success.

Infrastructure Is Becoming a Competitive Advantage

Many education organizations continue to invest heavily in product innovation, AI capabilities, and instructional design. Those investments are important, but they are only part of the equation.

Increasingly, competitive differentiation comes from the infrastructure behind the product.

How quickly can alignment reports be generated?

Can standards updates be managed efficiently?

How easily can evidence be shared during an RFP process?

Can implementation teams access accurate data throughout the adoption lifecycle?

Organizations that answer "yes" to these questions enter procurement conversations with a significant advantage.

Looking Beyond the RFP

We all know that winning an RFP is not the finish line—it is the starting point. We’ve experienced this dynamic internally, and without the right systems in place, it’s safe to say we would have had to excuse ourselves from one or two.

Successful organizations prepare long before procurement begins by building systems that support consistency, transparency, and scalability. When procurement teams evaluate vendors, they are looking for partners that can reduce implementation risk while delivering measurable value.

As procurement expectations continue to evolve, organizations that invest in scalable alignment, reporting, and adoption infrastructure will be better positioned to compete in an increasingly complex marketplace.

Join the Conversation

How are procurement expectations changing across K–12 education? What do state leaders, education innovators, and policy experts believe organizations should be doing today to prepare for tomorrow's adoption challenges?

Join us on September 14 for our webinar:

The K12 Adoption Advantage: Procurement Confidence Through Scalable Systems

Pre-Register Now

Our panel of education leaders will explore the changing procurement landscape, discuss what districts and states are looking for in today's vendors, and share practical strategies for building the systems that create long-term adoption success.

Reserve your seat today and discover how procurement confidence is becoming the next competitive advantage in K–12 education.

Expanding Access to Educational Standards Through Collaboration

sschuller — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 14:11:00 +0000

Expanding Access to Educational Standards Through Collaboration

sschuller Fri, 06/05/2026 - 07:11

Expanding Access to Educational Standards Through Collaboration

June 05 2026

Author

Sharla Schuller

Educators increasingly expect academic standards to be available wherever teaching and learning take place. Whether developing lessons, aligning instructional materials, reviewing assessments, or supporting workforce-connected learning pathways, access to accurate and current standards has become an essential part of modern educational technology.

Expanding that access requires collaboration between organizations with different areas of expertise. A recent Microsoft Education blog highlighted one example of this work, bringing together Microsoft, EdGate, and 1EdTech to help broaden access to academic standards and competencies for educators around the world.

While each organization plays a different role, they share the same goal in making standards and competencies easier to access, manage, and use within the tools educators rely on every day.

Three Organizations, One Shared Goal

Microsoft provides educational tools and experiences used by educators around the world. 1EdTech develops interoperability standards that help educational technologies exchange information consistently across systems. EdGate contributes standards expertise, repository management, alignment services, and the data infrastructure needed to organize and maintain standards across diverse frameworks and jurisdictions.

Together, these contributions help create a more connected ecosystem where standards can be accessed, shared, and applied more effectively within educational technology environments.

One result of this collaboration has been the expansion of standards coverage available through Microsoft's education tools. By combining Microsoft's platform capabilities and EdGate's extensive standards repository, educators can access a broader collection of standards and competencies without leaving the tools they already use.

That expanded coverage includes:

All 50 U.S. states, including Common Core State Standards, NGSS, and state-specific frameworks
More than 70 countries, with standards spanning core academic subjects, vocational education, and qualification frameworks
Hundreds of supplemental frameworks covering career and technical education, world languages, fine arts, and other specialized disciplines

This expanded coverage helps support educators, institutions, and content providers working across diverse educational environments while reducing the effort required to locate and apply standards from multiple sources.

Why Interoperability Matters

Educational technology ecosystems are increasingly interconnected. Content providers, learning platforms, assessment systems, credentialing organizations, and workforce development initiatives all rely on accurate standards and competency data.

As standards evolve and new frameworks emerge, organizations need reliable ways to exchange and maintain that information across systems. This is where interoperability becomes essential.

When standards and competency data can move consistently between platforms, organizations spend less time managing custom integrations and more time focusing on the experiences they want to deliver for educators and learners. Educators benefit from having standards available within the tools they already use, while organizations gain greater flexibility in how they develop and deliver content, assessments, and learning experiences.

Extending Standards Beyond Traditional Educational Boundaries

The collaboration highlighted by Microsoft reflects a broader conversation taking place across education and workforce development: how to make standards and competency data more portable, consistent, and useful across systems.

That topic was explored at the recent Learning Impact Conference, where EdGate's Gina Faulk and Kathleen Ideguchi presented a session titled Aligning Competencies Across Education-to-Employment Ecosystems with CASE.

The session examined how the 1EdTech CASE (Competencies and Academic Standards Exchange) standard provides an open, interoperable format for defining, exchanging, and leveraging competencies across educational and workforce systems.

As education and career pathways become increasingly connected, institutions and employers need reliable ways to align learning standards, course catalogs, skills frameworks, credentials, and job requirements. CASE helps address this need by providing a common structure that can be used across learning management systems, student information systems, content repositories, talent platforms, and other technologies.

The discussion also highlighted how CASE can reduce integration barriers, establish a more reliable system of record for standards and competencies, and support consistent data exchange across educational ecosystems. These capabilities are becoming increasingly important as organizations seek to create clearer connections between learning experiences and workforce opportunities.

Building a More Connected Educational Ecosystem

The collaboration between Microsoft, 1EdTech, and EdGate demonstrates what can happen when organizations with complementary strengths work toward a shared goal.

By combining platform innovation, interoperability frameworks, and trusted standards data, it becomes possible to create experiences that make standards more accessible and useful for educators while supporting the broader needs of educational institutions, content providers, and technology developers.

For EdGate, that vision aligns closely with the work we have supported for nearly 30 years. Improving access to educational standards and competencies is not the responsibility of a single organization. It is a shared effort that depends on collaboration, interoperability, and a commitment to helping educators and learners succeed.

As educational technology continues to evolve, partnerships like these will play an increasingly important role in helping standards and competencies move more seamlessly across the systems that support teaching, learning, and workforce readiness.

ASU+GSV 2026 Focuses on AI

sschuller — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 20:31:20 +0000

ASU+GSV 2026 Focuses on AI

sschuller Thu, 04/30/2026 - 13:31

ASU+GSV 2026 Focuses on AI

April 30 2026

Author

Gina Faulk

Opportunities and Promise + Risks and Challenges

I asked AI to determine how many presentations at ASU+GSV 2026 mentioned AI in their session overview. Simple enough, right? Not exactly. The ASU+GSV server blocks automated requests, so AI pivoted and tried fetching information in batches, but then hit a token limit. At one point it even stalled for a few seconds, as if to say "give me a moment, this is harder than it looks." Long story short: AI managed to evaluate only a portion of the site, but still came back with an estimate that 30–40% of sessions mentioned AI in some capacity.

And that tracks. ASU+GSV 2026 put AI squarely in the spotlight, with sessions covering topics like Preparing Students for the Future of AI-Enabled Work, Responsible AI in Higher Education, AI Tutoring, AI's Impact on Youth Psychology, Designing Learning for the Age of AI, and many more.

During the conference I was asked how AI will impact correlation services--which is the heart of what EdGate provides our clients. Let me point us back to paragraph one of this newsletter article where the answer is loud and clear: there are opportunities and there are challenges.

How is EdGate using AI?

EdGate uses AI to assist our work. EdGate is already using it internally to conduct standards research and tracking.
There are certain EdGate data offerings that AI is excellent at. For instance, EdGate uses AI to run standards comparison analysis. Do you want to know exactly how New York’s standards compare to Florida standards? EdGate’s AI-enabled ExACT tools can run a deeply informed standards comparison analysis that not only references the standards, but also the conceptual tags (the taxonomical index) that EdGate has added to the standards. EdGate’s clients are rewarded with a precise standards comparison analysis that can be used in order to inform content development and sales/marketing teams.
EdGate will soon be releasing a new AI-powered correlation capability wherein an EdGate ExACT user can feed a URL into the ExACT system. ExACT will evaluate the URL and align content to applicable standards, again relying on EdGate’s taxonomical index.

Similar to the challenges I faced using AI to analyze the ASU+GSV session list, solely relying on AI to correlate content to standards can lead to bumps.

So what issues does AI have in regard to standards alignment accuracy?

Multiple applicable standards require human judgment. A single lesson may legitimately align to several learning standards. AI may flag multiple matches without being able to determine which standard should serve as the primary a pedagogical decision that requires human expertise and instructional context.
Partial alignment can be mistaken for full alignment. Many standards are hierarchical, containing "parent" and "child" standards. A lesson may address one child standard while leaving others unmet. AI may identify an alignment to the broader standard without recognizing that only a portion of it is actually covered, creating a false sense of completeness.
State standards are highly variable and increasingly unique.Across the U.S., standards have evolved independently, meaning the same concept may be assessed differently from state to state. In one state, a student might satisfy a standard by writing an explanation; in another, they may be required to demonstrate understanding in a specific, prescribed way. AI systems trained on generalized data may not reliably account for these state-level nuances and idiosyncrasies.
International standards present additional technical challenges. AI tools can struggle to accurately process standards documents that use right-to-left text orientation (such as Arabic or Hebrew), increasing the risk of misreading or misaligning content tied to international curricula, as these are known issues that can confuse text parsers.
Graphical source materials reduce accuracy. When standards documents contain images, charts, or diagrams, AI cannot reliably detect characters or may interpret them incorrectly, leading to alignment errors that a human reviewer would easily catch.
Early Childhood Education requires experiential, observational judgment Determining whether an activity genuinely meets early childhood education standards often depends on direct observation of how young children engage with the material. This is a domain where an educator's hands-on experience with actual children is essential. AI cannot replicate the informed, contextual judgment that comes from working closely with this age group.
English Language Learner (ELL) content demands cultural, not just linguistic, accuracy. For English language learners, it is not enough for lesson language to be technically correct. Content must also be culturally appropriate and sensitive to the lived experiences of diverse learners. AI may confirm grammatical or vocabulary compliance without recognizing cultural mismatches that could undermine the effectiveness or inclusivity of a lesson.

Perhaps most crucial to publishers, AI is not going to be the one talking to the state adoption teams and prepared to provide reasoning on why a lesson was aligned to particular standard and potentially miss out on adoption if AI makes a mistake. At EdGate we use a mix of technology and human expertise. We provide our clients with a fine blend of AI assistance (for cost-saving measures); a technical infrastructure based on learning standards and learning concepts; and subject matter experts with decades of teaching experience to provide our clients with the most accurate, scalable and defensible alignments available.

Why AI Is Forcing a Curriculum Reckoning

sschuller — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 03:44:16 +0000

Why AI Is Forcing a Curriculum Reckoning

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Top Stories

sschuller Thu, 04/23/2026 - 20:44

Future-Ready Alignment: Why AI Is Forcing a Curriculum Reckoning

April 23 2026

Author

Rich Portelance

In our most recent EdGate Powers webinar hosted by Rich Portelance, an exciting panel of education leaders came together to answer a critical question:

What does it actually take to make curriculum “future-ready” in the age of AI?

The webinar featured insights from industry leaders, including:

Hillary Rinaldi, White Board Advisors (K-12 policy and district implementation)
Larry Johnson, EdGate (alignment and standards systems)
Zarek Drozda, Data Science 4 Everyone (data literacy and AI readiness)
Peter Coe, Student Achievement Partners (standards-based math education)

…the conversation made one thing clear:

“AI is not going to fix weak systems. It’s going to expose them.” — Rich Portelance

AI Is Only as Strong as the System It Sits On

There is real value emerging from AI—but only when it’s applied with precision. As Peter Coe explained, the most impactful use cases are not flashy:

“We see real value where AI is making effective instruction more possible for more students.”

That includes:

Helping teachers adapt curriculum
Accelerating feedback cycles
Supporting targeted instructional decisions

But outside of those focused use cases, AI often creates noise—not impact.

The First Thing That Breaks: Trust

When AI is layered onto weak systems, the risks compound quickly. Larry Johnson highlighted a critical issue:

“It doesn’t always interpret the data correctly… and that’s a concern.”

Without strong alignment:

AI misinterprets standards
Outputs appear correct—but aren’t
Students and teachers may trust flawed results

This is why alignment is not just operational—it’s protective.

From AI Users to AI Thinkers

A major shift emerging from the conversation is how we think about students’ roles. Zarek Drozda emphasized the need to move beyond passive use:

“We should position students as producers—not consumers—of technology.”

This requires:

Data literacy
Quantitative reasoning
The ability to question and validate outputs

Otherwise, students may use AI constantly—but learn very little from it.

The Real Problem: Too Much Curriculum

One of the most striking insights came from the state of curriculum itself. As Peter Coe noted:

“There are too many learning targets… and that limits the depth of learning we can achieve.”

Today’s system often results in:

Coverage over mastery
Fragmented learning experiences
Critical skills (like data literacy) being deprioritized

The solution isn’t less rigor—it’s more focus.

What High-Quality Learning Actually Looks Like

Not all digital learning is created equal. Hillary Rinaldi pushed the conversation beyond “screen time” debates:

“Not all screen time is created equal.”

High-quality experiences are:

Coherent and aligned
Focused on core concepts
Designed for application, not just exposure

And most importantly:

Built to develop durable, transferable skills

Alignment Is the Infrastructure Layer

As standards evolve—and diverge across states—alignment is becoming exponentially more complex. Larry Johnson described the shift:

“It’s not enough for a lesson to be about a topic anymore—it has to meet the specific expectations of what students must do.”

This includes:

Writing explanations
Applying concepts
Demonstrating understanding in specific ways

Scaling this across states requires more than manual effort. It requires systems.

What Leaders Should Do Next

Across the panel, there was strong agreement on the path forward:

Focus: Prioritize fewer concepts, taught deeply
Support teachers: Implementation is the real challenge
Build systems: Alignment must scale across complexity
Shift mindset: AI is a tool—not the endpoint

As Zarek Drozda put it:

“We shouldn’t rush to buy AI tools—we should focus on adapting curriculum for a changing world.”

Hear the full conversation and how this thinking came together.

Watch the Recording

The Urgent Need to Redefine K-12 Curriculum

sschuller — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 22:14:29 +0000

The Urgent Need to Redefine K-12 Curriculum

Hot Topic

Teaching Trends

sschuller Tue, 03/10/2026 - 15:14

Executive Director of Data Science for Everyone, Zarek Drozda, on the Urgent Need to Redefine K-12 Curriculum

March 10 2026

Author

Rich Portelance

In a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and massive data flows, the skills students need are evolving faster than most school systems can adapt.

In a recent EdGate Powers podcast conversation, Zarek Drozda, Executive Director of Data Science for Everyone (DS4E)—a national initiative at the University of Chicago—spoke with host Rich Portelance and outlined a growing gap between what students learn in school and the capabilities they will need in a data-driven economy.

Closing that gap will require more than incremental change. It will require rethinking how curriculum is structured, how standards evolve, and how data literacy is embedded across the K-12 experience.

The Emerging Skills Gap: Data, Technical, and Critical Thinking

Drozda highlighted two major areas where K-12 instruction is falling behind.

Data Technical Skills

Many students graduate without basic proficiency in working with data. Essential capabilities—such as manipulating data tables, creating visualizations, transforming datasets, and analyzing digital information—are rarely taught systematically.

Yet these skills are becoming foundational across nearly every profession as AI tools and data systems become embedded in daily work.

A More Precise Definition of Critical Thinking

Drozda argues that critical thinking must move beyond vague definitions to include data literacy and statistical reasoning.

Students should be able to:

Distinguish correlation from causation
Identify bias within datasets
Recognize misleading anecdotes versus broader statistical trends

In an era when AI tools can generate convincing outputs instantly, these analytical habits become an essential safeguard.

The Historical Barrier: The “Race to Calculus”

Why has data science remained peripheral in the curriculum?

Drozda points to a structural legacy often called the “race to calculus.”

During the Cold War and the space race, U.S. math education prioritized a pipeline of students progressing through Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, and ultimately Calculus. The goal was to cultivate elite scientists and engineers.

While successful in that mission, the model unintentionally pushed aside other forms of quantitative literacy—particularly statistics and data analysis.

The result is a curriculum that often overlooks how data actually functions in modern life—from recommendation algorithms and economic forecasting to autonomous vehicles and AI systems.

Data as the “Glue” for Interdisciplinary Learning

Rather than treating data science as a standalone elective, Drozda suggests something more transformative: using data as the connective tissue across disciplines.

This creates opportunities for interdisciplinary learning:

Math students applying statistical models to environmental questions in biology
History students analyzing economic datasets to explore historical trends
Social science classes examining demographic or civic data

Using tools like spreadsheets or Python, students can engage in project-based learning grounded in real-world data.

Educators often find this approach sparks engagement—even among students who previously felt disconnected from traditional math instruction.

The Structural Challenge: Pace of Change

Even when educators recognize the need for change, the system itself moves slowly.

State academic standards typically update every five to twelve years, while new technologies—particularly AI tools—evolve every few months.

This mismatch creates real challenges for:

curriculum publishers
education leaders
state review boards
district curriculum teams

Drozda also notes that many instructional review processes remain fragmented and manual, making it difficult to evaluate modern digital curricula that integrate live data, connectivity, and evolving technologies.

A Window for Transformation

Despite these challenges, Drozda sees a rare opportunity.

The disruption caused by the pandemic, combined with the rapid emergence of AI, has opened what he calls a “profound window of change.”

With thoughtful policy, modern curriculum design, and stronger alignment between standards and emerging skills, education systems can build a more equitable pathway for students to become confident users—and critical evaluators—of data and AI.

That transformation will require collaboration across educators, policymakers, publishers, and technology providers.

But the payoff is clear: a generation of students better prepared for the realities of a data-driven world.

To learn more about the initiative, visit Data Science for Everyone and explore their resources for integrating data science into K-12 education.

EdGate’s BETT UK 2025 Recap

sschuller — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 21:45:30 +0000

EdGate’s BETT UK 2025 Recap

EdTech

Hot Topic

Top Stories

sschuller Thu, 02/05/2026 - 13:45

EdGate’s BETT UK 2025 Recap

February 05 2026

Author

Gina Faulk

No, this is not a rock concert

Walking into the BETT arena, you had to pause and wonder whether you were about to witness the grand entrance of a storied musician—or maybe a Hollywood superstar. But no. It was something even better. Hundreds of educators, EdTech companies, publishers, and just as many parents (like me) still trying to wrap their heads around “new math” were buzzing with excitement for Sal Khan—speaking in person.

That’s the magic of BETT.

The everyday work of educators and EdTech professionals is elevated into something genuinely exciting, inspiring, and forward-looking. Sal Khan was one of many standout speakers at the BETT 2026 conference in London, held January 21–23. During his session, attendees learned about Khan Academy’s new AI writing coach, powered by Google’s Gemini, which provides real-time feedback to help improve literacy skills.

Over at the Microsoft booth, crowds of educators and EdTech leaders gathered as Mike Tholfsen unveiled a wide range of Microsoft EDU updates. One announcement was particularly close to EdGate’s heart: the ability for Microsoft EDU users to align instructional materials to standards. EdGate is thrilled to be supplying Microsoft with thousands of education standards from 50 countries—with even more on the way. Using EdGate-supplied standards, Microsoft EDU users can leverage the Align to Standards tool to rewrite lesson instructions so they reflect the intent of a selected standard, focusing on what learners should understand or be able to do, without copying the standard’s wording.

At the Kahoot! stand, it quickly became clear that it’s not just the adorable capes driving teacher and student enthusiasm. Kahoot! announced the addition of U.S. curriculum standards—also powered by EdGate. These include standards for all 50 states, Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and ISTE standards across Math, English Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies. Educators with a Kahoot EDU! school or district license can now assign relevant standards directly to their kahoots.

Seesaw Learning’s booth was equally buzzy, with educators from around the world sharing how they support inclusive education through adaptive teaching and multimodal tools. And of course, educators can align learning using Seesaw’s standards and curriculum alignment tools, supported by EdGate.

Finally, one of the most valuable aspects of BETT is the strong presence of Ministries of Education from around the globe. This year, we met with standards experts from Qatar, the UAE, Italy, France, India, Hungary, Korea, Spain, Ukraine, and Lebanon. Access to up-to-date international learning standards is critical for our clients, and BETT offers something no web search can replicate: direct conversations with the experts shaping those standards.

Until next year, BETT!

Teaching AI Like a Skill

sschuller — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 21:41:32 +0000

Teaching AI Like a Skill

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sschuller Thu, 02/05/2026 - 13:41

Teaching AI Like a Skill: What Students Are Learning in K-12 Classrooms

February 05 2026

Author

Lanitta Collier

Sharla Schuller

Schools are moving beyond the question of whether students will use AI because they already are. The new focus is AI literacy in the classroom: understanding how AI works, where it falls short, and how to use it responsibly.

Instead of broad bans, many districts are adopting student-facing guidance that treats AI like a skill to develop. States are beginning to support that shift as well. Places like Mississippi and North Carolina have published guidance encouraging schools to approach generative AI as something students need to learn to navigate thoughtfully, not simply avoid.

For publishers and EdTech providers, this shift matters because AI expectations are starting to influence what “responsible use” looks like inside instructional materials, assignments, and assessments.

What’s Actually Changing in Classrooms

Rather than one-size-fits-all rules, teachers are setting clearer norms and helping students build habits they can apply across subjects.

1. Students Learn the “When” (Permission + Boundaries)

One of the first classroom priorities is helping students understand when AI use is appropriate and where boundaries need to be drawn. Privacy expectations, responsible tool use, and academic integrity are central to that conversation.

Alabama, for example, has provided an AI policy template for local education agencies to help districts define acceptable use rather than rely on blanket restrictions. In practice, students are learning early that AI is a tool, but one that requires limits and accountability.

2. Students Learn the “How” (Prompting + Iteration)

Many students begin by using AI to “get the answer,” but teachers are increasingly focused on how AI can support thinking instead of replacing it.

Guidance from states like Mississippi and North Carolina points educators toward strategies that emphasize exploration, iteration, and critical engagement. Students are learning how to ask better questions, refine prompts, and use AI responses as a starting point for deeper work.

3. Students Learn How to “Check”

Another major instructional shift is teaching students that AI output can sound confident without being correct.

States such as Georgia and Virginia emphasize ethical and responsible use, encouraging educators to help students evaluate AI-generated information with skepticism. In classrooms, this often looks like verifying responses against trusted sources, recognizing bias, and understanding that AI can oversimplify complex topics.

4. Students Learn How to “Show Their Work”

As AI becomes more common, transparency is becoming a classroom norm. Students are being asked to explain how AI contributed to their process rather than hiding its use.

This aligns with broader policy movement in states like Tennessee, where schools are now required to adopt formal AI use policies. Even in states where guidance is advisory, such as Oklahoma, the direction is clear: districts need shared expectations for responsible use.

For publishers, this also raises new questions about how AI-supported learning experiences can be documented and assessed within curriculum materials.

5. Students Keep Agency

Across all of these shifts, one message remains consistent: AI does not replace student voice.

Guidance from states like West Virginia and North Carolina emphasizes that while AI may support instruction, students remain responsible for reasoning, choices, and final work.

How Assessment Is Evolving

Many of the practices gaining renewed attention are not new. Drafting, reflection, and oral explanation have long been part of effective teaching.

What has changed is why they matter. With AI capable of generating polished work instantly, teachers can no longer rely on a finished product alone as evidence of understanding. Assessment is shifting toward making student thinking visible throughout the process.

More emphasis is being placed on drafts, process-based checkpoints, in-class writing, and assignments that require original context or interpretation. The goal is not simply to police AI use, but to ensure learning remains clear even when AI exists in the background.

The System Backdrop

State guidance is emerging unevenly, and that inconsistency is shaping how AI literacy develops.

Some states have issued detailed classroom-facing guidance, while others have little formal direction. In many places, AI expectations are being introduced through computer science pathways, digital literacy frameworks, and ethical use recommendations, leaving districts to translate those signals into everyday practice.

Teachers, in many ways, are building the AI literacy playbook in real time.

Standards Still Apply

While few states have adopted standalone AI standards, the skills students are developing align closely with existing academic expectations.

AI literacy shows up through digital citizenship, computer science, and core content standards that already require students to evaluate information, protect privacy, think critically, and explain reasoning. When students refine prompts, verify outputs, or document AI’s role in their work, they are demonstrating skills embedded in current standards.

AI changes how learning is demonstrated, but it does not change what students are expected to know.

EdGate works with states, districts, and publishers to help make those connections clear, so standards alignment remains intact even as classroom practice evolves. If your organization is navigating how AI-supported instruction fits within existing standards, reach out to our representatives to learn how EdGate can help you through the process.